Just Hangin' out

Well I’ve done a terrible job of keeping-up this site!! The last two months have been uneventful with only one short trip for two RV Rallies, both near the San Antonio area.

We have done some work around the house and are planning our next trip for January to the outer banks of North Carolina. We take the RV but we have reservations at 2 timeshares. One at Kitty Hawk and the other at Atlantic Beach. We’ll see what the weather brings and determine which path we’ll take on the way to the coast.

Back Home

On our last day in Little Rock, we learned Shep had Died. We drove to the house on Tuesday and left for San antoino on Wednesday for the visitation on Thursday and the funeral on Friday. We stayed until Sunday and then came home. We were disipointed in the turnout for both days, no one from ToS and just the locals from TTofTX.

We are in North Little Rock for the FMCA South Centeral 6-State "Rally at the Rock". We leave tomorrow for home.

The picture is across the Arkansas River from our campsite of the Clinton Library. WE had a lot of fun here with friends, some others had a rough time just getting parked. This time we lasted 7 days before we needed fresh water.

Time to Get on the Road Again

OK, enough home stuff, it's time to go RVing again. We have some short trips planned for next month. First we go to TTN Lake Whitney for a rally then to TTN Lake Tawakoni to meet a group to caravan to the FMCA 6-State Rally in Little Rock, AR.

Boring

Well, we’re back to house mode. Fixing, repairing, and cleaning. All the same tasks seem so much better when we do them in the RV. I guess that’s why we try to stay on the road as much as we can. Our next outing is schedule to start on 9/3 and we’ll be mostly in the RV during September and then again the end of October. In the mean time I guess the doctors need visiting and the stick house needs care too.

Home Again

We have spent the last few days out of Internet contact but now were home. After leaving Chuck and Irene's, we spent three days in the St. Louis area with Russ, Timi, and the girls. We toured the Budweiser brewery and a Dog Museum. then we traveled to the Tulsa area to visit Kathy (Timi's Mom) and Mike.

This trip was not like our normal trips but we had fun. The first part of the trip was all Rallies, the middle part was getting the coach fixed, and the last part was visiting out scattered friends.

Time to Travel On

We've spent the last few days visiting with chuck and Irene our long time RV friends in Sydney, IL. We parked on the drive-way between the house and shed this time and not by the garage at the front by the road. This made it easier to get to the house and game room. The girls had a good time, the boys couldn't buy a win in Marbles or Train. We are leaving today for St. Louis to visit Timi, Russ, Ginger, Donna, and Mindy.

Repairs Finished

The repairs are all finished and we are leaving today for Sidney, IL to visit Chuck and Irene. On the way there we need to stop at a Ford(?) dealer to get our new simulator, wheel cover, hubcap thingy. The visit was useful, we got the gray water tank leak fixed, the cabinet door hinge replaced, and the dead switches replaced. It's a shame this place is shutting down, it was convenient to have a factory repair facility in the Central U.S.

We're at the Factory in Elkhart, IN

We spent Saturday in a Wal-Mart/Sams parking lot in Holland MI. and came into factory parking area Sunday afternoon. This morning at 6:30 AM we went over our fix-it list with the service representative. We went shopping while they started the repairs. Every day between 2 pm and 3 pm they move the RV back out to the camping area for the night. They will be back at 6:30 AM tomorrow to continue the repairs. While they worked on our coach we visited the RV Hall of Fame we heard about in St. Paul. The collection of vehicles they have in this place is amazing.

Ferry Ride Completed

We are staying at a Wal-Mart near Holland Michigan tonight. We complete out ferry boat ride 6:15 EDT and drove to here from Ludington, MI. After I’ve downloaded and processed a few pictures I’ll up load them to the Blog. The ferry ride was fun even though the day started very foggy, by the time we were half way across the lake the sun was shining and the weather (and lake) comfortable.
This will show the ship we were on.
http://www.ssbadger.com/newhome.aspx

After the Rallies

Tonight we are camping at the Walmart in Manitowoc, WI. It took us until 1 pm or so to get out of St. Paul. We had to fill with fresh water, dump the black and gray water, and pick-up some pills at Walgreen's. We also made some stops along the way. Tomorrow we take the ferry to Ludington, MI. I'll add some new photos of the ride.

FMCA Rally Ground

This is an ariel photo taken of the St Paul Fairgrounds during the rally. Today is the last day for the rally we will be leaving in the morning for Manitowoc, WI to take the S.S. Badger to Ludington, MI. Our coach is on the far right of the picture. What do you mean you can't see it, it's the shorter coach in the 3rd column with the big satellite dish on the top.

First Entry

We are at the FMCA RV Rally at St. Paul MN. We arrived here Saturday from the Safari Pre-Rally a Prior Lake, MN and before that from the Safari 20th Anniversary rally at Amana, IA. (This is the first entery I did on this Blog. The enteries dated before this were post dated.)

Making Our Trek a Safari Again Part 2

These are more pictures of the process the next day.

This is a picture of Dennis with us and the finished mural.

Making Our Trek a Safari Again

For those who Don't know Safari's, the thing that made them unique among Motorhomes was the murals on the back's of the coaches. When Monaco bought the Safari line they couldn't come to an agreement with the people that painted the murals and so this is what we got on our 2006.



Dennis Dame, one of the main painters of these pictures, was in Prior Lake, MN at the pre-rally for St. Paul. We had him put a mural on our coach so it looks like a real Safari Coach again.
These and the next posting, are the steps he went through to make our picture.